A BILL to
amend and reenact §16-5V-6, §16-5V-7, §16-5V-8 and §16-
5V-32 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all
relating to the Emergency Medical Services Retirement System
Act; specifying procedures for the transfer of contributions;
clarifying actuarial valuation period; clarifying employer
contribution amount; specifying procedures for the correction
of errors; and requiring certain information be included in
the insurance plan filed by the Public Employees Insurance
Agency.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §16-5V-6, §16-5V-7, §16-5V-8 and §16-5V-32 of the Code of
West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to
read as follows:ARTICLE 5V.á EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES RETIREMENT SYSTEM ACT.§16-5V-6. Members.
(a) Any emergency medical services officer first employed by a county or political subdivision in covered employment after the
effective date of this article shall be a member of this retirement
plan as a condition of employment and upon membership does not
qualify for membership in any other retirement system administered
by the board, so long as he or she remains employed in covered
employment.
(b) Any emergency medical services officer employed in covered
employment by an employer which is currently a participating public
employer of the Public Employees Retirement System shall notify in
writing both the county commission in the county or officials in
theirthe political subdivision in which he or she is employed and
the board of his or her desire to become a member of the plan by
December 31, 2007. Any emergency medical services officer who
elects to become a member of the plan ceases to be a member or have
any credit for covered employment in any other retirement system
administered by the board and shall continue to be ineligible for
membership in any other retirement system administered by the board
so long as the emergency medical services officer remains employed
in covered employment by an employer which is currently a
participating public employer of this plan: Provided, That any
emergency medical services officer who does not affirmatively elect
to become a member of the plan continues to be eligible for any
other retirement system as is, from time to time, offered to other
county employees but is ineligible for this plan regardless of any
subsequent termination of employment and rehire.
(c) Any emergency medical services officer who was employed as
an emergency medical services officer prior to the effective date,
but was not employed on the effective date of this article, shall
become a member upon rehire as an emergency medical services
officer. For purposes of this section, allthe member's years of
the emergency medical service officer's covered employmentservice
and credited service prior to the effective date shall not be
counted for any purposes under this plan unless (1)if the
emergency medical services officer has not received the return of
his or her accumulated contributions in the Public Employees
Retirement Fund System pursuant to section thirty, article ten,
chapter five of this code. or (2) the accumulated contributions
returned to the member from the Public Employees Retirement System
have been repaid pursuant to this articleThe member may request
in writing to have his or her accumulated contributions and
employer contributions from covered employment in the Public
Employees Retirement System transferred to the plan.If the
conditions of subdivision (1) or (2) of this subsection are met,
all years of the emergency medical services officer's covered
employment shall be counted as years of service for the purposes of
this article.(d) Any emergency medical services officer employed in covered
employment on the effective date of this article who has timely
elected to transfer into this plan as provided in subsection (b) of
this section shall be given credited service at the time of transfer for all credited service then standing to the emergency
medical services officer's service credit in the Public Employees
Retirement System regardless of whether the credited service (as
that term is defined in section two, article ten, chapter five of
this code) was earned as an emergency medical services officer.
All credited service standing to the transferring emergency medical
services officer's credit in the Public Employees Retirement System
at the time of transfer into this plan shall be transferred into
the plan created by this article and the transferring emergency
medical services officer shall be given the same credit for the
purposes of this article for all service transferred from the
Public Employees Retirement System as that transferring emergency
medical services officer would have received from the Public
Employees Retirement System as if the transfer had not occurred.
In connection with each transferring emergency medical services
officer receiving credit for prior employment as provided in this
subsection, a transfer from the Public Employees Retirement System
to this plan shall be made pursuant to the procedures described in
this article: Provided, That any member of this plan who has
elected to transfer from the Public Employees Retirement System
into this plan pursuant to subsection (b) of this section may not,
after having transferred into and becoming an active member of this
plan, reinstate to his or her credit in this plan any service
credit relating to periods in which the member was not in covered
employment as an emergency medical services officer and which
service was withdrawn from the Public Employees Retirement System prior to his or her elective transfer into this plan.
(e) Once made, the election made under this section is
irrevocable. All emergency medical services officers employed by
an employer which is a participating public employer of the Public
Employees Retirement System after the effective date and emergency
medical services officers electing to become members as described
in this section shall be members as a condition of employment and
shall make the contributions required by this article.
(f) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article, any
individual who is a leased employee is not eligible to participate
in the plan. For purposes of this plan, a "leased employee" means
any individual who performs services as an independent contractor
or pursuant to an agreement with an employee leasing organization
or similar organization. If a question arises regarding the status
of an individual as a leased employee, the board has final power to
decide the question.

§16-5V-7. Creation of Fund; investments;

actuarial valuations.
(a) There is hereby created the "West Virginia Emergency
Medical Services Retirement Fund" for the benefit of the members of
the retirement system created pursuant to this article and the
dependents of any deceased or retired member of the system.
(b) All moneys paid into and accumulated in the fund, except
amounts designated by the board for payment of benefits as provided
in this article, shall be held in trust and invested in the
consolidated pensions fund administered by the West Virginia Investment Management Board as provided by law.(c) The board shall employ a competent actuary or actuarial
firm to prepare an actuarial valuation of the assets and
liabilities of the fund. The actuarial valuation period shall
coincide with the fiscal year of the state.

§16-5V-8. Members' contributions; employer contributions;

correction of errors.(a) There shall be deducted from the monthly salary of each
member and paid into the fund an amount equal to eight and one-half
percent of his or her monthly salary. An additional amount shall
be paid to the fund by the county commission or political
subdivision in which the member is employed in covered employment
in an amount determined by the board: Provided, That in no year
may the total of the employer contributions provided in this
section, to be paid by the county commission or political
subdivision, exceed ten and one-half percent of the total payroll
for the members in the employ of the county commission or political
subdivision.(b) Any active member who has concurrent employment in an
additional job or jobs and the additional employment requires the
emergency medical services officer to be a member of another
retirement system which is administered by the Consolidated Public
Retirement Board pursuant to article ten-d, chapter five of this
code shall contribute to the fund the sum of eight and one-half
percent of his or her monthly salary earned as an emergency medical services officer as well as the sum of eight and one-half percent
of his or her monthly salary earned from any additional employment
which additional employment requires the emergency medical services
officer to be a member of another retirement system which is
administered by the Consolidated Public Retirement Board pursuant
to article ten-d, chapter five of this code. An additional ten and
one-half percent of the monthly salary of each member shall be paid
to the fund by the concurrent employer by which the member is
employed in an amount determined by the board: Provided, That in
no year may the total of the employer contributions provided in
this section, to be paid by the concurrent employer, exceed ten and
one-half percent of the monthly salary of the employee.(c) All required deposits shall be remitted to the board no
later than fifteen days following the end of the calendar month for
which the deposits are required. If the board upon the
recommendation of the board actuary finds that the benefits
provided by this article can be actuarially funded with a lesser
contribution, then the board shall reduce the required member and
employer contributions proportionally. Any county commission or
political subdivision which fails to make any payment due the
Emergency Medical Services Retirement Fund by the fifteenth day
following the end of each calendar month in which contributions are
due may be required to pay the actuarial rate of interest lost on
the total amount owed for each day the payment is delinquent.
Accrual of the loss of earnings owed by the delinquent county
commission or political subdivision commences after the fifteenth day following the end of the calendar month in which contributions
are due and continues until receipt of the delinquent amount.
Interest compounds daily and the minimum surcharge is $50.(d) If any change or employer error in the records of any
participating public employer or the retirement system results in
any member or retirant receiving from the system more or less than
he or she would have been entitled to receive had the records been
correct, the board shall correct the error and as far as is
practicable shall adjust the payment of the benefit in a manner
that the actuarial equivalent of the benefit to which the member or
retirant was correctly entitled shall be paid. Any employer error
resulting in an underpayment to the retirement system may be
corrected by the member or retirant remitting the required employee
contribution and the participating public employer remitting the
required employer contribution. Interest shall accumulate in
accordance with the Legislative Rule 162 CSR 7 retirement board
reinstatement interest, and any accumulating interest owed on the
employee and employer contributions resulting from the employer
error shall be the responsibility of the participating public
employer. The participating public employer may remit total
payment and the employee reimburse the participating public
employer through payroll deduction over a period equivalent to the
time period during which the employer error occurred.

§16-5V-32. Effective date; report to Joint Committee on Government
and Finance; special starting date for benefits.

(a) The provisions of this article become effective January 1,
2008: Provided, That no payout of any benefits may be made to any
person prior to January 1, 2011: Provided, however, That emergency
medical services officers who retire due to a duty disability
pursuant to this article may begin receiving the benefits at the
rate and in the amount specified in this article from this fund
after June 30, 2008: Provided further, That until June 30, 2008,
those emergency medical services officers who retire due to a duty
disability pursuant to this article may draw benefits from this
fund at the rate and in the amount set forth in section
twenty-five, article ten, chapter five of this code.
(b) During the 36-month period before the payout of benefits
begins, the Joint Committee on Government and Finance shall cause
an interim study or studies to be conducted on the potential
effects of the implementation of this retirement system, including,
but not limited to, potential funding mechanisms to provide health
insurance coverage for retirees in the fifty to fifty-five year age
group: Provided, That after the effective date of this provision,
the Director of the Public Employees Insurance Agency shall propose
a rule for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions
of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code governing the
funding of health insurance coverage for retirees under the plan
provided in this article who are in the fifty to fifty-five year
age group, which rule may be filed as an emergency rule: Provided,
however, That any rule filed as an emergency rule pursuant to this subsection shall be refiled at the earliest opportunity as a
legislative rule for review and promulgation in accordance with the
provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code
include in the insurance plan document filed in the office of the
Secretary of State as 151 CSR 1 provisions governing the funding of
health insurance benefits for retirees under the plan provided in
this article who are in the 50 to 55 year age group.